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New MoMA Tower Revealed

As for the appearance of the building, compared to earlier drawings and renderings, it does look a little bit squatter, but not by much, and the articulation of the tower has changed slightly. Viewed from Brooklyn, across the East River, it would not be invisible, either, appearing somewhere in the lee between One Bryant Park and the old CitiCorp Center. Still, it will not tower over these buildings, either.
— Observer

A slideshow of architectural drawings show just how much, yet just how little, Jean Nouvel's Torre Verre has changed.

If you read the previous article, it says MoMA hasn't really decided what to do. Knowing NYC land-use policies, it would take years and millions to somehow incorporate it, so it's probably staying put or being torn-down and maybe integrated as of right, but as a different building. That would be my guess.

I agree about the mystery involving the Folk Art museum, but I think by the views from the south it's fairly clear that space is being left for it... doesn't it look like there's a big setback from the eastern lot line?

It's frustrating they cut this thing down so it wouldn't offend the tourists on the Empire State viewing platform (well, I love that view too, but always wish there were more tall buildings to look at). The new version is not nearly as beautiful, taken as a monolith, than the previous - the top feels too blunt. I would love to know more about the zoning arguments behind this: I assume the developers were asking for preconsideration to build higher than they could 'by right', which is why the planning commission felt it was entitled to cut the thing down. If they had the air rights to build this high, it's very bad news that the commission denied it.

Finally: can't believe there is still the money in high-end real estate to pay for this kind of ridiculous building. It looks like there will be one apartment per floor for the last twenty or so levels. Surely the marginal costs of building each floor above, say, the 60th or so, become really extreme.